Redefining #indyref2

It is important that people understand we are not having a re-run of the first referendum. That is over. Although unionists seem unable to let it go, it is very much in the past. It is useful now only for the lessons it can teach us about how the new referendum campaign should be conducted. But it is vital that people recognise it as an entirely new vote in dramatically altered circumstances.

We should also be aware that it is not only the Yes side that will be looking to learn from past experience. The British establishment will, for example, have realised how they were disadvantaged by the referendum being held under the auspices of the Scottish Parliament. They will be regretting that they didn’t keep control of the process in the hands of the Westminster elite. And they will looking for ways to ensure that Westminster will dictate the terms of any new referendum.

Nothing about this new referendum is the same as the earlier one. Brexit is only a part of it. It is NOT the ‘trigger’ for #indyref2 (sorry Nicola!). It is merely part of the context within which the new referendum will be held. A context which includes other factors which may be even more significant than Scotland being dragged out of the EU against the democratic choice of its people. The revelation (for some) that the entire No campaign was composed of lies, smears, scaremongering and empty promises is at least as powerful an argument for a new referendum as the Brexit fiasco.

We will continue to call it #indyref2. Not even the First Minister can stop that. But we can do so in full awareness that what we are referring to is, not a re-run of a previous vote, but and entirely new referendum necessitated by drastically altered circumstances.

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